Owners Refi Office Portfolio for $22M-Plus

ROSWELL-A two-building class A office portfolio has received $22.5 million in refinancing. The buildings are located adjacent to each other at 1544 Old Alabama Rd. and 900 Holcomb Woods Parkway.

The three-story building at 1544 Old Alabama Rd. was built in 1999 and contains 70,000 sf. The two-story building at 900 Holcomb Woods Parkway was built in 2005 and has 20,000 sf. The portfolio is owned by Atlanta-based Rubicon Investments LLC. The financing was arranged by New York-based Sonnenblick Goldman.

The main tenant in the buildings is MR Default Services, which provides foreclosure and bankruptcy processing services to law firms. The company was recently recapitalized as a joint venture between the founders of a prominent local law firm, McCalla, Raymer, Padrick, Cobb, Nichols & Clark LLC and a Boston-based law firm. Both MR Default Services and McCalla Raymer occupy the building on a modified net lease that is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2021. "The loan value per sf was higher than any other building in the Atlanta area," says Sonnenblick Goldman managing director and principal Andrew Oliver, in a prepared statement. "The lending community liked MR Default Services' story, and the fact that their business should grow if real estate foreclosures increase, which provides a natural hedge for the lender."

Sonnenblick vice president Dave Karson tells GlobeSt.com that Rubicon purchased the portfolio nine months ago for $19.5 million and was able to secure a $22.5-million loan for, which allowed the company to recoup $3 million in profits. Karson adds Rubicon was able to secure the loan due to the strength of the tenancy, which was bolstered even further with the joint venture.

"We refinanced the property with over 90% leverage from a single lender, allowing the borrower to recoup all of its invested proceeds and with a significant profit less than one year after the initial purchase," Karson says.